2024-04-25
Until 1973, a painting by Peter Paul Rubens entitled "The Descent from the Cross" hung in the main altar of St. Nicholas Church in Kalisz. There are two versions of the events of the night of 13-14 December 1973 - either the painting was destroyed by fire or the fire was just a cover for thieves.
Peter Paul Rubens was one of the most outstanding artists of the Baroque era. He was educated in Antwerp in the studios of Adam van Noort or Otto van Veen. He received his master's degree in 1598 in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. Already during his lifetime he gained international fame. His clients included many crowned heads such as Charles I Stuart, King of England. He had an excellent painting workshop, he paid a lot of attention to colour and composition. He had a great influence on English and French painting.
'The Descent from the Cross'' from Kalisz was painted between 1615 and 1617. The work was bought in Antwerp in 1620 by Piotr Żeromski, secretary to Sigismund III Vasa. It is known that even before 1639 the painting was already in the church of St. Nicholas.
The fire was noticed at around 2am by a woman who lived in a building opposite the church. The fire brigade was on the scene 4 minutes after the incident was reported. The fire was only put out after three hours of firefighting, the work was hampered by thick smoke covering the entire upper part of the altar. The commanding officer of the extinguishing action stated that the fuses of the electrical installation were twisted - he considered the most probable cause of the fire to be arson. A valuable clue seems to be the fact that a part of the corner of the frame with preserved fragments of the painting survived the fire. Both firemen and parish priest Andrzej Gaweł suggested that it looked as if the canvas had been cut or pulled out of the frame.
What is very puzzling is that on 16 March 1974 in the daily newspaper "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" there appeared an advertisement with an offer to sell the painting. The canvas is still searched for by Interpol, it is included in the international database of wanted works of art - Art Loss Register and the national list of monuments stolen or illegally exported abroad.